


falling softly

by Riley_Ludicrous



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Lee!Siblings, M/M, Minor Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Seo Youngho | Johnny, Minor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 12:17:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18446387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riley_Ludicrous/pseuds/Riley_Ludicrous
Summary: Taeyong's mom hires Taeil to babysit he and his brothers, and Taeyong thinks it's completely unfair because he's twelve and Taeil's thirteen, and he doesn't need a babysitter.Things go up from there.





	falling softly

Taeil first babysat for the Lees when he was thirteen and Taeyong was twelve, the latter complaining that he could take care of Mark and Donghyuck just fine by himself, and his mom patiently explaining that she just wants Taeyong and Taeil to work together.“It’s not that you’re too young, sweetie, it’s just that Taeil’s been babysitting for a few months, and maybe he can teach you how it works!”

Taeyong, still emotional and angry, thinks it’s incredibly unfair.In the morning he’ll feel embarrassed for acting so bratty, but for now he feels sleighted. 

To make matters worse, Taeil is perfectly calm through the one-sided screaming match.He doesn’t even stay through it awkwardly, he politely ducks out of the room and makes hot chocolate for Donghyuck and Mark, effectively solidifying his place as ‘cool babysitter.’When Mrs. Lee makes a comment about sugar highs, he whispers to her that he’s made the hot chocolate sugar free, revealing a bag of stevia out of his messenger bag, and Taeyong understands that he will never be cooler than Taeil, at least not in the eyes of his mother and brothers.

Taeil gives him a mug of it, and he sips away with a scowl.By the end of it, he can only maintain a soft frown, and his mom is long gone. 

.

After that night, he doesn’t complain about Taeil coming to ‘help’ him babysit his brothers, and when his mom thinks he’s ready to do it by himself, he’s a little disappointed.Taeil goes to a different middle school despite living just a few blocks away, and he barely gets to see him outside of taking care of his brothers.

He’s doing his homework when his mom calls him down about a call for him.She’s smiling as she hands off the phone, and he furrows his brows at her because no one calls him.

“Hello, Taeyong,” greets a familiar voice from the speaker.

“Taeil?”Taeyong wracks his brain for why the older boy would want to talk to him and comes up blank.“Is everything okay?”

Taeil chuckles on the other end of the line and says, “No, I just wanted to talk to my favorite colleague.”

Taeyong feels his cheeks get hot.“Oh,” he says. 

_‘Oh,’ that’s all you can manage?Seriously?_

Taeil senses his awkwardness and moves on.“How’s school?You’re in seventh grade now, right?”

“Yeah,” he says quickly.“It’s fun.We’re reading _The Giver,_ and it’s really cool because I read it in fifth grade, so it’s super easy!”He wonders if he’s coming across as too nerdy, but he figures that since Taeil is an eight grader, he won’t care as much about his bragging as Taeyong’s classmates.“What’s eighth grade like?”

“It’s okay,” Taeil says.“I can’t wait for high school, though.We’ll join up with the other middle school in the area then, and all the movies make it seem like high school is when you can do fun stuff.” 

“Will we go to the same high school?” _Will you be my friend when I get there?_

“Yeah!We can sit together, too; it’ll be so fun.”

They keep talking until Taeyong’s mom gives him a warning glance and points at the table that still needs to be set for dinner. 

.

Taeyong becomes an eighth grader, and his mom starts recommending him to her friends to babysit their children.The whole concept is admittedly more fun when he’s watching kids he’s not related to, and he gets paid to do so.Sometimes, when he has especially young charges that go to bed super early, he calls Taeil.Sometimes Taeil calls him. 

There’s still certain limits to his level of responsibility, though, apparent in a family that has five children toddler-aged and up and one baby, and they’re reluctant to leave all their children with any one babysitter.He offers to call Taeil, and the parents jump on the idea.

Babysitting with Taeil again is awesome: the kids all adore him, and he never acts like he’s too cool to play with them or talk to them, which paradoxically makes him incredibly cool.Most of the kids in Taeyong’s grade seem to think that if they pretend they’re above everyone else, everyone else will love them, but Taeyong can see the truth in this high school kid that gave up his Friday night to help an eighth grader look after kids. 

Taeyong hopes he’s that cool when he gets into high school.

.

He gets to high school, and Taeil is the only person he can stand.It’s like his whole class got even more unnecessarily annoying over the summer.He hates it. 

Taeil maintains his promise and lets Taeyong sit with him at lunch, thankfully, but Taeil doesn’t have many friends, and the ones he does have don’t sit with him at lunch.A week into the semester, Taeil shows him the library and how to sneak in food and not to leave a mess.The librarian greets Taeil by name and learns Taeyong’s by asking, “Who’s this lovely young man?”

Taeil in the library is a lot calmer than Taeil in the cafeteria, and Taeyong likes the peace more than the loud noises and weird smells anyway.They spend lunches talking in low voices and giggling and hitting each other with books, and it’s great.

.

The second semester there’s a new student from Chicago called Johnny.He seems like a regular popular kid at first, but then he asked about the book Taeyong’s reading in home room, and Taeyong reluctantly opens up to him.He invites Johnny to sit with them at lunch the next day after asking Taeil if it’s okay, and Johnny spends a few days a week with them. 

Johnny is really cute, and pretty smart, and the first fellow freshman Taeyong’s met this year that isn’t insanely annoying, and he kind of gets butterflies in his stomach whenever he smiles the way he does. 

He wants to tell Taeil because he trusts Taeil more than he trusts himself sometimes, but for some reason, he can’t think of that theory too long before he starts to hate the idea.He doesn’t know why.

.

The crush on Johnny fades when the summer comes.

In the meantime, Taeyong finds a magazine with a boy wearing a crop top, and he decides he wants to try it.He tells Taeil, who looks oddly panicked for a second before finding more magazines with similar boys in cute outfits for him to “draw inspiration from.”Taeyong eagerly accepts them all, and the two of them go shopping together.He thinks it might’ve been terrifying on his own, but with Taeil there, he just had a ton of fun.It’s easiest to ignore judgmental looks when your best friend is much closer, smiling at you.

Johnny invites the two of them to a party.Taeil only goes after Taeyong begs him, but he dances with Taeyong for half an hour’s worth of songs before sitting down to people watch.Taeyong has ripped skinny with fishnets underneath, and the first crop top he ever got, and he feels like he owns the world. 

He meets Ten at the party, and the two of them dance for ages.They exchange numbers because they’re kindred spirits.They meet up once a week for coffee or nails or whatever, and it’s really nice.

Taeyong introduces him to Johnny, with whom he hits it off with right away.Ten figures out that Taeyong like Taeil when Taeyong still barely has an inkling of it.

.

Taeil is stressed out by junior year the day it starts, but Taeyong suspects that that’s more Taeil’s fault than the year’s.The only way he can spend any extracurricular time with him is through lounging on his bed while he studies and does homework with all the focus of a marksman.He tries to do his homework, too, but most of the time he gets sidetracked staring at Taeil.

“Kiddo,” Taeil says from his desk, and Taeyong has a such an odd, uncomfortable relationship with that word, “you should be getting your homework done.You’ve been staring off into space for the last fifteen minutes.”

_I’ve been staring at you,_ he doesn’t say.

“I’m bored,” he actually drags out.

Taeil looks up at him, long and hard.

“I guess we could use a break,” he considers.Taeyong feels his eyes widen in shock.Taeil pouts at him.“I take breaks!” he huffs in defense at the look.”

Taeyong settles into a smirk at this.

“Grab your stuff.We can walk to that ice cream shop you love.”

They walk there, and Taeil pays for Taeyong’s ice cream before he can get out his wallet.It feels too much like a date for his heart.

.

It’s Donghyuck who pushes him to confess. The nine-year-old comes home from school one day and asks if he can marry his friend Jaemin.Taeyong giggles a little and tells him that he can only marry Jaemin if Jaemin wants to marry him, too.

Donghyuck nods very solemnly and says, “I’ll ask him tomorrow.”He pauses and looks up, right into Taeyong’s eyes, and says, “You need to ask Taeil if he wants to marry you.I know you want to marry him, but he probably wants to marry you, too, so it’ll be okay.”

After that he runs out to the backyard to pick some flowers, so he can ask Jaemin properly.

.

It’s on Taeyong’s mind while he watches Taeil study the next day.He doesn’t know what to say or how to say it, but then his mind is filled with Donghyuck’s nine-year-old forwardness and he asks, “Do you want to marry me?”He promptly buries his red face in the comforter and his arms before Taeil can process what he said.

There’s a long pause.

Then, “Aren’t we a little young?”

Taeyong peers up, so just his eyes are visible.“Um,” he starts. 

Taeil smiles fondly at him, encouragingly.

“Do you want to date me?” he clarifies. 

Taeil seems to pause to consider the idea.“Sure,” he finally says.

Taeyong beams at him before Taeil goes on.“We can get married, too,” he says through a smirk, and Taeyong buries his face in the comforter again.

**Author's Note:**

> Here you go! I might be putting my siren fic on hold for a hot minute because I'm really not motivated on it? Sorry, guys. I'll probably update it in like,, less than a month. In the meantime, I have these one shots!


End file.
